In computer graphics, three-dimensional (3D) modeling involves generation of a representation of a 3D surface of an object, and the representation may be referred to as a 3D object data model. A 3D object data model can be rendered or displayed as a two-dimensional (2D) image via 3D rendering or displayed as a 3D image. 3D object data models represent a 3D object using a collection of points in 3D space, connected by various geometric entities such as triangles, lines, curved surfaces, etc. Various techniques exist for generating 3D object data models utilizing point clouds and geometric shapes, for examples. 3D rendering is the 3D computer graphics process of automatically converting 3D object data models into 2D images with 3D photorealistic effects on a computer. The 3D rendering process depicts the 3D object data model as a picture taken from a specified location and perspective. Several different, and often specialized, rendering methods have been developed such as scan-line rendering or ray-tracing, for examples.
Being a collection of data, 3D models can be created by hand, algorithmically, or objects can be scanned, for example. As an example, a given object may be scanned from a number of different angles, and the scanned images can be combined to generate the 3D image of the object. 3D object data models may include solid models that define a volume of the object, or may include shell or boundary models that represent a surface (e.g. the boundary) of the object. Because an appearance of an object depends largely on an exterior of the object, boundary representations are common in computer graphics.